Only Twenty Five Years
by RattytheRaticate
Summary: The adventure was over. The Gate was closed. Now it's open again, but... the Digital World isn't the one that they knew anymore. It's amazing how much can go wrong in only twenty five years.
1. Morning Happenings

AN: Alright, I feel that an explanation is in order for this. The first two chapters of this story were not that good, bluntly put. I messed up in several places, with ages and even accidentally disregarding a plot point (In chapter one, Tory distinctly talked about having a mother that they didn't have and then TK called himself a single father in chapter 2. ) So in order to correct this, I have decided to combine the former first two chapters and then re-upload them, hopefully completely free of those kind of errors this time around. Hopefully. XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. …It would be awesome if I did, though. : 3

Enjoy~

Regular speech~

**Different language~**

_Thoughts~_

It was Monday morning, and the sun was shining brightly through his window, but fourteen year old Torao Takaishi, known as Tory to his friends, cursed his luck and every god he could think of as he scrambled throughout his bedroom, frantically opening drawers and digging through them, only to quickly slam them shut in frustration.

"Where are they? Where are they?" He knew that he had left them on the dresser last night, but now they were gone, vanished into thin air and despite himself, a frustrated growl ripped itself out of his throat.

He had never been good at dealing with problems in the morning.

"If I don't find my glasses, Dad's gonna kill me!" The very thought of telling his father that he had lost _another_ pair of glasses was sobering.

Well…it was enough to make him_ try_ to calm down, at least. He took a deep breath, trying to remember where if, maybe, he had left them somewhere else, but no matter how he tried, his mind continued to draw a blank as to his glasses' whereabouts.

"I know that they were here…" Tory sent a scathing look down towards dresser, "…You're doing this on purpose aren't you? You're finally taking revenge for all the times I shoved clothes in you without folding them, aren't you!"

It giggled at him.

Despite what anyone might've said they heard that morning, no. Tory Takaishi most certainly did not squeal like a little girl when confronted by giggling furniture.

He did jump, however (only a little bit though), when the dark haired head of his sister popped out from behind it, still giggling.

"I got you, Tory-chan!" Five year old Akina Takaishi exclaimed proudly. She was still only halfway dressed, and what little had gotten done had obviously been done by the child herself. She was still wearing her pink pajama bottoms underneath the yellow dress and her shoulder length brown hair had been tied into two clumsy looking pigtails that had been tied with two different colored ribbons. The girl's blue eyes were positively shining, as if giving her brother a heart attack was one of the greatest accomplishments ever.

'_Two can play this game.'_

"…Auuggghh!" Grimancing, Tory clutched his chest, right over his heart, as if in pain. "No, oh no, you've slain me!" He stumbled over to his bed, still moaning in pain as he went, posing overdramatically just for effect, "What a world." Forcing himself to go limp, he flopped down onto his back.

Akina was still giggling slightly as she made her way over to the bed. "Tory-chan, quit playing!"

It was that Tory could do not to smile and break character.

A moment passed, taking Akina's giggling with it and he could hear the beginning of concern in her voice, "…Tory-chan?"

'There's my queue.' With a wide grin, Tory leaped, pulling his sister into his arms gleefully, the little girl squirmed wildly, trying to escape his grasp, her giggling wildly.

"Um, Tory, can I–?"

Akina's eyes positively lit up at the sudden new voice and without warning she twisted around in his grasp, as if she were some kind of snake. Akina's sudden shift left all of her weight on his chest, and he suddenly found himself falling backwards, but Tory was smiling as he hung upside down from the edge of his bed, "Morning Rei."

Reiko Matsumiya was his twin brother, but the chances that Tory and he would ever be confused for each other were slim. Whereas years of soccer playing had given Tory muscle tone, his brother was slender and almost feminine looking, with carrot colored hair that came to a stop at his shoulders whereas his own was close cropped and neater. Reiko (who had been standing awkwardly in the doorway until now, it seemed) stiffened slightly in surprise as their sister leapt on him, hugging him tightly around the waist, "Rei-chan, good morning!"

"…Good morning, Akina." Reiko smiled at her, awkwardly but not unkindly. The five year old pouted up at him, pulling away slightly without completely breaking the hug, "Rei-chan! Why won't you call me Kina-chan? I told you to, and everybody else does, so you gotta do it too!" Reiko stared bewilderedly down at her, "Um…"

His brother's gaze seemed to draw itself instinctually over to him, a small apologetic smile on his face. Tory sighed a little, sitting up and maneuvering his body so that he was facing the two of them, "Hey, Kina-chan." His sister turned to face him curiously, "You should probably get downstairs, shouldn't you? Dad might get upset if you don't eat."

Akina's blue eyes widened in alarm, "Oh no, would he be really mad?" Tory shrugged, a teasing smile spreading over his face, "Who knows? You might have to worry about that." His sister frowned slightly, "Why not?"

"Well, if you're any later, he'll probably just eat you anyway, so..." Akina gasped in horror at his nonchalant statement, turning and running from their bedroom, not even pausing for good byes, but rather shouting it to them over her shoulder.

Reiko sighed, brushing a hand through his hair, "**Thanks, Tory.**_" _

Tory smiled, walking over to put a comforting arm around his brother's shoulders, "**Aw, come on. You look like somebody kicked your dog, Bro. Give yourself a little credit, why don't you? You're catching onto Japanese pretty well!**"

Although the twins currently lived together, Reiko had spent his younger years living with their mother, an American woman whom their father had said he'd met while on a trip there, in New York. In fact, he had only been living with them in Japan for a little over a year, but he could read most kanji with little a problem. Speaking it fluently, however, was proving to be a much greater challenge for him. While basic conversations were manageable for him, he still had some trouble understanding what was said whenever someone spoke too quickly, and he occasionally stumbled over his words.

His brother sighed, _"_**Not really. I barely understood half of anything Akina said, something about her name, maybe…? She talks so fast…it sounded all garbled up.**_" _Suddenly his face turned rather stern_, "_**But I did catch what you said to Akina…you know I don't like it when you tease her like that.**_"_

Tory waved him off with a small smile, _"_**Oh, relax. She knows that I'm not serious.**"

He moved back to the dresser, trying to decipher one piece of clothing from another in the mass of colors that blurred together inside, reminding him that his glasses were still very much missing and with a frustrated huff, Tory settled the first thing that looked the most like a short sleeved shirt.

"**The only thing that I'm worried about is what excuse I'll have to make up when she stops buying that Dad occasionally turns into a kid eating demon.**"

His brother sighed exasperatedly, "**Just don't say I didn't warn you when she grows up to resent you for it**."

"…**You've been watching those weird American talk shows again, haven't you?"**

"**N-no!"** He totally had.

A thought occurred to him, "**Oh yeah, what did you wanna talk about, Rei?**"

Reiko stilled, and Tory frowned at the flush on his brother's face, "**...You okay, Bro?**"

His twin smiled a little too widely, "**Oh, yes, I'm just fine! I-I j-just…wanted to…um...um…**" He stuttered through his words, almost unintelligibly, running his hands repeatedly through his hair, a nervous habit of his that Tory had been quick to pick up on. Reiko didn't seem to be getting anywhere, but suddenly he was shoving something into his hand, "**I found your glasses! T-they were in the bathroom this morning, so you probably left them there last night!**"

'…_If it was just about my glasses, he didn't have to get so weird about it…but that's Rei, I guess.'_ Shooting his brother an appreciative smile, he slipped them on, breathing a sigh as the world slipped into focus.

"**Thanks.**"

They fell into a short comfortable silence that Reiko broke, switching back into Japanese as he made his way the doorway. "I'm going downstairs, okay? Get dressed before we're late for school._"_

Tory groaned loudly at the reminder that yes, today was a school day, letting his head fall and hit the wood of the dresser with a thump.

"…Wanna switch places with me for the day? I'm pretty sure between the two of us, we could convince the others to just go with it."

The piece of furniture, predictably enough, didn't respond.

"…Fine, be that way then."

(O3O)(O3O)(O3O)

'_The universe just decided to have fun with me today, didn't it?'_

Despite Reiko's warning to hurry, Tory was sitting on the floor ten minutes later, scrounging rapidly through the contents of the closet. It wasn't necessarily helping him find anything, but _wow_, was it making him feel better.

"First my glasses go missing, now my bag. Really?" He ran a hand through his hair in disbelief, "Someone is having a good laugh at my expense right now."

"You're right, I am. Of course, that's mostly because you're sitting here talking to yourself."

Without even turning to face the speaker, Tory grunted in annoyance, "Oh great. You're here. Now I know I'm being punished."

"Oh, darn, was it that obvious?" Fourteen year old Ryousuke Ichijouji leaned nonchalantly against the door frame, arms crossed lazily, decked out in mostly black despite the rather warm weather outside, "I was trying for subtlety here."

"Well, you failed. But you fail at life anyway, so you should be used to it by now."

The other boy scoffed, "You're insane."

"The best people are! ...Oh and morning, by the way."

Ryousuke snorted, blowing a lock of lavender hair out of his eyes (Tory wondered sometimes why he wouldn't just cut it sometimes), as he surveyed the messier than usual state of the room, "I'd say good morning, but I'm honestly not having one. By all appearances, neither are you."

"Oh no, I'm just having a fabulous time throwing my stuff everywhere."

"You always do." Tory threw a shoe at him, but it fell pathetically short and with a growl, he gave up, turning around so that he could see his friend properly, "Not that I don't feel properly graced by your majestic presence, oh wonderful one, but why are you here already?"

Because of the relative closeness between their two houses, Ryousuke normally walked to school with them. It was unusual to see him here so early, however; he normally didn't arrive until around half past seven.

Ryousuke was suddenly glaring at him, but Tory honestly didn't pay it much mind. Ryousuke tended to glower at everyone like that, save for, maybe, his family members. For all his sense of humor, he had a much, much shorter temper than his mother had ever had. Not a day had gone by (none that he could remember anyways) that his friend hadn't completely flipped out at somebody over something. In fact, more often than not, these fits were directed at him.

"I'm 'here already' because I have been waiting on your porch for twenty minutes, you idiot. The only reason I got inside is because Rei noticed and let me in. He's waiting for us downstairs, by the way. He looked pissed," His friend smirked, "So basically, you're screwed."

'…_Well, that's not a good sign.'_

An ominous feeling welling up in the pit of his stomach, Tory hesitantly took a glance at his wrist watch that told him that it was only seven fifteen.

A second glance told him that his wrist watch had stopped and he paled.

'…_Crap.'_

(OUO)(OUO)(OUO)

Thirty eight year old TK Takaishi liked to think that time had been kind to him. For his age, he looked remarkably young, as if he was barely in his thirties rather than almost forty, a single father with three wonderful children, and making a living as a rather successful author. He was unashamed of how content he was with his life.

Even so…

He took quick glance towards daughter, sitting opposite of him at the kitchen table, frowning slightly as she struggled with holding her chop sticks.

"Here, Kina-chan, like this." Getting up and walking over, he took her smaller hand in his, positioning her fingers so that she was holding them correctly. He watched her with a warm smile as she tentatively went back to her food. Her eyes shone at her own success, and she sent him a wide grin, "Thank you, Daddy!"

TK felt an affectionate smile stretch across his face, "You're welcome."

'_Patamon would have loved them.'_

The thought of his little partner sent a pang of sadness through him. He hadn't seen him since the Digital Gate had closed permanently more than twenty years ago. Izzy, despite doing everything possible to try and figure it out, had never been able to explain why exactly the Gate had closed, and they had all inevitably had to except the reality.

Life would continue, with or without the Digital World.

TK sighed, _'Even so, I can't help but cling to hope that one day, I'll see Patamon again.'_

A quick flash of bright orange caught his attention. A glance out of the kitchen found his youngest son perched on the edge of the chair by the door, blue eyes focused intently on the screen of his old cell phone as he tapped away at the keys, not noticing that his father was staring.

Or perhaps he did know, and just didn't care…

'_He might've been able to help me with him…'_

A strange combination of sadness and curiosity stabbed through him as he saw the slightly crestfallen look on Reiko's face. Had it been Tory, he wouldn't even have hesitated to ask him what was wrong and that knowledge sent a jolt of shame coursing through him.

"…Reiko." Both of them jumped of the voice, his son staring at him like a deer in the headlights, and TK stared back before realizing that he was the one who had spoken. He knew he should say something, say anything, but for a moment Reiko looked almost afraid of him and that in itself was almost enough to break his heart.

"…Are you hungry…? You haven't eaten this morning…" He heard himself ask lamely into the awkward silence that had settled over the kitchen.

Reiko didn't move, just staring at him quietly, and TK felt a small glimmer of hope for a moment, but then his eyes wondered down to the floor, "…No…um, no, thank you."

Akina stared back and forth between the two of them, a small frown on her face, looking ready to say something.

And then a screech came from upstairs, effectively breaking the tension.

The former Digidestined of Hope, despite having lived with his eldest son for fourteen years and knowing very well that Tory could be overly dramatic, gave a great start at the panicky scream that echoed from the second floor.

Akina giggled a little, but Reiko hadn't even paused at the screaming or the sudden steady stream of (incredibly loud) insults that couldn't have been coming from anyone but Ryousuke. The father of three only managed to catch a glimpse of the two as they ran past, the Ichijouji boy's furious face an interesting shade of red as Tory pulled him along by his arm, and TK couldn't fight the small smile as snippets of their conversation drifted in through from the hall.

"Come on come on come on come on we're so freaking late it's not even funny!" Tory's voice had hit a pitch that TK hadn't thought possible in his rush.

"Who the hell's fault do you think that is! Let go, dammit, I can walk by myself!"

"Ryousuke, please don't kill Tory in the house."

Their voices faded as the door slammed but it was reopened just as quickly. TK gave his oldest son a smile as his head poked itself into the doorway of the kitchen, "Bye Dad, bye Kina-chan! Rei said bye too! We'll see you after school, okay?"

"Okay!" Akina waved cheerfully at him, "I'll see you later, Tory-chan!"

TK smiled a little, "I'll see you two when I get home later." Tory smiled widely back, nodded in farewell, and ran back out the door.

AN: Even if it's just telling me that I suck, I'd be flattered if you left a review! : 3 Thank you for reading!


	2. The Fog

AN: :) Welcome, everyone, to the beginning of the plot. Please enjoy~

Disclaimer: No, I still don't own this franchise. D: Sucks for me, I guess.

(owo)(owo)(owo)

Although their school wasn't incredibly far away, it took much longer to get there if one walked in the mornings. At the beginning of the year, after considering that their father had to both take Akina to school and make it into to work on time, the twins had opted to walk to school in the mornings rather than be driven. Normally, they were out of the house by seven thirty, giving themselves more than enough time to get there, but this morning, however…

Ryousuke had stopped screeching at him for the moment, but Tory was mostly sure that was only because even he couldn't manage to sprint and do so at the same time. The lavender haired boy seemed to have settled for shooting glares at him every time he looked back in between puffing gasps of air.

"Hey, Bro, what time is it now?"

Reiko jogged quietly a little ways behind the two of them, huffing a bit, but still somehow managing the delicate art of texting while running. "Seven forty five. We still have fifteen minutes u-until the finalbell."

Tory grinned widely, "Awesome! I knew we could make it!"

"We…we haven't made it anywhere… yet…" Ryousuke snarled through his attempts for air, always meaner when physical excursion was involved. He coughed harshly into his arm, "S…Shut up."

He laughed good-naturedly, "Aw, don't be so grumpy, Ryousuke! This isn't that bad! We've only been going for a few minutes!"

Ryousuke grumbled loudly (some of the harsher curses he uttered made Reiko flinch), determined to be as moody as he could, but Tory was suddenly struck with inspiration.

He glanced back at Reiko, and gesturing over to their lavender haired friend, Tory smiled an inviting smile. His brother rolled his eyes at him, but still quietly slipped his phone into the relative safety of his pocket, "Hey, Ryousuke?"

The Ichijouji boy grunted in acknowledgement. Reiko grinned apologetically, lightly tapping the lavender haired boy on his shoulder, "Tag, you're it."

"What the—?"

Tory shoved past them, cackling wildly, Reiko sighing with resignation but following after him anyway. Faintly he heard Ryousuke was yelling at them that they were acting like children, but Tory knew he was chasing after them despite himself.

He reveled in this, could lose himself in these moments, when the adrenaline of just being able to run seized his body and the buildings and people flew past, and maybe the scenery suddenly seemed little darker and he almost thought he heard Reiko call his name, but these things were fleeting and went unacknowledged.

Suddenly his foot caught on something, and he fell, hitting the ground with a loud thud,"…Ow…"

Reiko slowed to stop beside him, panting harshly, "I told you to stop–"

But then he went wide eyed, and Tory slowly sat up, his stomach an icy pit as he realized where they were.

'_God, I hate Sakebi Alley.'_

The halfway point between Odaiba High School and their home was a vacant alleyway that always seemed as though it was permanently gray, as if any color or sunlight evaporated upon reaching the god forsaken place. Rumors had floated around for years about how people had died there and that it was haunted. He had had to walk by this place many times when he was a child, but he had always made his father accompany him, especially after his older cousin Mako told him about the monsters that housed themselves there. His father had always humored him, something that he would always be grateful to his him for. Of course, he wasn't a child anymore, and no longer had to squint his eyes tightly shut as he practically ran past for fear of anything he might see, but that never made the dead end seem any less ominous.

He would have been more than glad to just continue on, but they needed to let Ryousuke catch up. He'd never forgive them if they left him behind…

'_I'm overreacting…'_ Tory told himself firmly. Sure, this place was creepy, but Sakebi Alley was just that: an alley, no matter how utterly nightmarish it might've been.

Something _groaned_ and he felt a chill run down his spine.

A nervous laugh escaped his lips, "Hehe…this place isn't…isn't _that_ bad, right, Rei?"

"…Yeah…" Reiko sounded distracted; maybe he felt like something was off about this place too?

"Yeah…"

There was something _unnatural _about this silence. He couldn't help but suddenly be very aware of the lack of people on the street. True, this district had never been incredibly busy, but there were still a couple of apartment complexes nearby…

'_Maybe…we __**should **__go find Ryousuke…I mean, it's just detention…'_

"Um…hey, Reiko?"

His voice seemed to echo in the silence. His brother didn't answer.

"…Rei?"

Reiko hadn't moved from the entrance of the alley, and Tory frowned concernedly, because he had _that _look on his face again. That creepy, blank faced stare that he wore every so often that Tory found incredibly unsettling. Still doing his best to avoid actually looking down the dead end, Tory made his way to where his twin stood, taking him by the shoulder and gently shaking him, "Rei…? Hey, Reiko…"

Reiko didn't acknowledge him.

()()()

_An eleven year old Tory frowned at his brother, but not because it was the middle of night. His brother frequently came into his room after a nightmare. He had become used to it after a few weeks. He wouldn't tell their father about this, about __**anything **__(and Tory flinched because he knew exactly what his brother meant by anything) because Reiko had begged him not to, and he'd looked so miserable that first night, with swollen eyes and tears still running down his face, that Tory couldn't do anything but agree. _

_He hadn't had a nightmare in a few nights now, and Tory had hoped he was getting better…_

_He knew he was wrong now._

_It was always scary, seeing Reiko like this, but this time seemed… different. His face was red and wet, streaked with tear marks, but his gaze was far-off, unfocused._

_It was as if he was staring straight through him. _

_Tentatively, Tory called out to him and Reiko seemed to snap out of a daze, practically jumping out of his skin, staring around the room confusedly as if he didn't know where he was._

"…_**Torao…?**__" He breathed a quiet sigh of relief, because at least Reiko was definitely back to normal. Nobody else called him by his full name. But that relief didn't last long, because suddenly he was up of his bed, in his arms, and sobbing, and for a fleeting moment, Tory considered breaking his promise not to tell._

_But he couldn't break another promise._

()()()

The Alley was filled to the brim with a white mist that Tory hadn't noticed before, but it was clear enough in this moment that he wondered why he hadn't.

'_Something's wrong...'_ The fog seemed almost as if it was…contained within Sakebi's walls, but while it was creepy and bizarre, but there was nothing out of the ordinary—

There was a light emanating from the brick wall, tiny and flickering in and out of sight, but definitely _there_.

"What…is that…?"

Suddenly Reiko's hands fisted harshly into his sleeve, trembling and clenched so tightly that it looked painful.

"It's open..."

An odd protrusion was forcing its way out of the wall, and Tory could literally feel the blood as it drained out of his face.

'_Is that a…?' _

A hand, endowed with sharp, deadly claws that ever so slowly were attached to an inhumanly long and too slender arm. Tory realized with a jolt that he could see clear through it, but that didn't stop the panic that shot through him as it reached for them, bone white claws stretched wide and menacingly. He wanted to run, they _needed_ to run, but he couldn't make his legs move, and Reiko wouldn't release him, his fingernails digging painfully into his skin through his sleeve, muttering 'It's open, it's open, it's open' over and over and over again into his shoulder.

The claws were suddenly there, in his face, but he couldn't move and Reiko just wouldn't_ let go and—_

Screaming.

Someone was screaming and the sound rang loudly in his head, but suddenly the hand was gone, seeming to dissolve right before his eyes.

The light blinked and it was only then that he realized that it wasn't closing, but rather it was getting brighter; Brighter and brighter and brighter until Tory couldn't see anything else. Someone grasped his shoulder, and suddenly there was Ryousuke yelling in his ear, but he couldn't focus on anything save the light.

Then he blinked, and the light swallowed him and everything – everything – went dark.

(O_O) (O_O) (O_O)

AN: Short chapter is short, but there are three children down, two more to go, and they might just surprise you, so stick around and find out. )

Please review before you leave, even if it's just saying I suck, I'd appreciate the feedback! : 3


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